A network gateway computer conventionally serves as a proxy between a group of inter-connected computers, referred to as an intranet, such as a corporate intranet or customers of an Internet service provider, and the myriads of server computers on the Internet. The gateway computer is networked with the intranet computers in such a way that outgoing requests and responses from the intranet computers to the Internet, and incoming requests and responses from the Internet to the intranet computers are routed through the gateway computer.
Typically, a request is issued as an HTTP protocol request that includes a URI for a file, such as an HTML page, a JPEG image or a PDF document, residing on one or more server computers on the Internet. Similarly, a response is typically an HTTP response including a requested file, sent back to a client in response to a request.
Network gateways are generally connected to an intranet with high-speed lines, so that the bandwidth between the intranet computers and the gateway computer is much higher than the bandwidth between the gateway computer and rest of the Internet.
Two important functions of computer gateways are (i) to restrict outsiders from unauthorized access to a computer intranet, and (ii) to protect the intranet computers from software containing computer viruses and from spam. Computer gateways may contain conventional firewall software that restricts outside communication with the intranet, anti-virus software that identifies computer viruses residing within files retrieved from the Internet, and anti-spam software that filters out unwanted content.
Current gateway systems cause latency because clients do not access websites directly, and because current gateway systems apply security protocols to protect intranet members. Accordingly, systems and methods for reducing network access latency without compromising network safety are needed.